The Game of Chess
by bazzer
Summary: Pg for some language. A Rogue/Lance piece set after DoR, it’s not really a romance. Lance remembers Rogue in an unexpected way. As a teacher.


Ok so this is my first Rogue / Lance fic.

The beginning takes place about a week after DoR. And the Flashback takes place before Pietro enters the Brotherhood.

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The Game of Chess

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Lance sat down heavily on the couch. It was really the only thing to do since the battle.

Sit and grieve.

Most of the teens were staring at the TV, watching some nameless show. However, how many of them actually saw the TV was unanswerable. Mystique had disappeared and the Professor had came back some days after his disappearance. He'd been set up on an emergency recruiting mission in the arctic. He'd come back disappointed and tricked, to find Ororo in charge of all the kids. Which wasn't that hard because no one did anything any way. 

His eyes scanned those sitting around him. Every one was there, except Scott.

There was a crash from the next room, and those who weren't too deep in thought turned their heads toward the sound. Scott stepped out scratching the back out his head in embarrassment. He held up a dust-covered box.

"He he, chess anyone?"

Lance buried his head in his hands as Jean volunteered. 

The chessboard used to be played often in the Brotherhood home. However, not since Rogue left. 

Because the chessboard was hers.

~!~!~!~ Flashback ~!~!~!~

Lance walked down the hall, boredom covering every corner of his mind. After passing several doors, he found one slightly ajar. He silently poked his head in the room.

Rogue sat on her bed; she wore a large shirt and boxers, as it was almost eleven o'clock at night. A table had been pulled up beside the bed, a chessboard on top it. She moved a white piece. Then paused and moved a black piece to counter it. 

He stepped fully in the room, "You know normally your supposed to play against some one else," he quipped.

"And since when was anything normal in this house," she shot back, as she took a black pawn.

He spun a nearby chair and straddled it backward across from her; "Play ya."

~!~ 10 minutes later ~!~

"And your Queen is mine," Lance smiled cockily as he took the black piece.

"And you King is mine," she smiled at his stunned face. "Check mate."

It fell with a _thunk_. 

He sat up strait; "One game doesn't mean anything."

"Actually it means everything."

"Huh?"

"Now I know, not only how you play chess, but how you fight, how you do battle, and also how run your life."

He crossed his arms and laid them across the back of the chair, "Explain."

"First you look for the biggest threats. In chess the Queen and the two Bishops, you pay no heed to the pawns, rooks, or knights. In battle against the X-men you go for Cyclops and Jean, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler pose no threat to you. You think that since their mutation can't hurt you they don't matter. I won't go into your life 'cause you'll get mad.

"Second, you only use your greatest forces, and for certain reasons. In your mind you're the main force, like the Queen. You use Fred for your defense, the bishops. The rest of your force is left open. In your mind they can't do anything. Todd and mine powers aren't offense of defense, so we're no good."

"That's not true," he objected.

She gave him a look and Lance turned his head. She was right.

"You kept one goal in your mind and don't stop to think of the casualties. Others around you. And in most cases, yourself."

Lance rubbed his face with his hands. He wasn't sure which scared him more the fact that Rogue knew all this, or the fact that it was all true.

"In battle, in life, and in chess it's not about knowing everything, about leading and trapping. It's about knowing what your opponent's going to do."

"Know them and hope they don't know you?"

"Let them see a side, a certain face, a particular plan," she waved her hand over the chess board, "and then change it."

"Throw them off guard, surprise them," he summarized. He nodded to himself, "This applies to battle and chess," he realized.

"People too," Rogue agreed.

"Like you?"

"In some ways."

"You show people the tough side."

She nodded, "Or the bitchy side."

"So it's all a lie." She nodded slightly, "To every one?"

"I do what I need to survive, if that means lying to everyone, then so be it," she shrugged it off casually.

"Even to yourself?"

She looked him directly in the eyes, "If I need to."

He stood the king up, "Teach me."

~!~!~!~ End Flashback ~!~!~!~

She did, every night they meet and she taught him to play chess, and he taught her to trust again. He'd beaten her once and planned on rubbing it in her face the next day. But Mystique had sent her to school early. She was going on the class trip.

He was brought back to the present by a small _thunk_.

Scott smiled apologetically to Jean, "Checkmate."

They shook hands and Jean stood up. 

"Any other takers?" he questioned with a slight air of confidence.

Lance stood, "I play you."

"_You _play _chess_?" Scott questioned unbelievingly.

"And I play well. I had an great teacher."


End file.
